Artificial ski-track constituted by brush-members



July 31, 1962 P. ACQUADERNI ARTIFICIAL SKI-TRACK CONSTITUTED BY BRUSHMEMBERS Filed Nov. 30, 1959 INVENTOR Pun-2o ACQUADERMZL ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,047,292 ARTIFICIAL SKI-TRACK CONSTITUTED BY BRUSH-MEMBERS Pietro Acquaderni, Strada Maggiore 94, Bologna, Italy Filed Nov. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 856,083 Claims priority, application Italy Dec. 5, 1958 1 Claim. (Cl. 27256.5)

It is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial ski-track that eliminates the inconveniences of the tracks of known kind and contrary to conventional tracks permits a skier to do everything that is possible to do on snow such as for example: curves, braking, running, going uphill, trailing, fully effective use of sticks etc.

There are known in fact artificial ski-tracks made with straw or with straight-lined stalks grouped in simple reeds placed horizontally; however, though permitting satisfactory sliding of the skis they permit only rectilinear movement and are adapted for instance to make tracks for leaping.

The ski-track according to the present invention is characterized in that it is formed of brush-shaped members with bristles of a certain softness and elasticity turned upwards; the top ends of said bristles in fact constitute an assembly of points which in their whole determine substantially a discontinuous and elastic surface, presenting for the ski that slides flat a limited friction surface and opposing at the same time a sufficient resistance against disbanding (just as is the case on snowy ground) when the edge of the ski in becoming inclined to begin a curve or to brake, partly inserts itself into the brush.

The artificial skiing surface of the present invention comprises a network consisting of generally undulated strip members having angular bends with the strip members being arranged in a mesh-forming relationship and with the strip members lying alongside each other so that the bends of one strip member are contiguous with the bends of an adjoining strip member, the strip members having upper surfaces from which a bunched plurality of adjoining upright resilient and laterally bendable projections upstand to form a non-continuous sliding surface.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description of some preferred embodiments illustrated byway of example without limitation in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows in perspective view a brush-shaped member according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows, again in perspective view, a further example of embodiment of the brush-shaped member according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a particular relative to the connection between two of said brush-shaped members indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 shows in plan a portion of track obtained with said members;

FIG. 5 shows in plan a portion of track obtained in different manner, again according to the present invention.

With the embodiments indicated in FIGURES 1 to 5 the base sockets serving as supports to the bristles (that is, whereon the bristles are applied), have an undulated shape which may be undulated with wide curves (see FIG. 4) or undulated in the shape of a broken line with rectilinear portions joined with one another by curved portions with small radii (see FIG. 5).

In FIG. 1 is visible a brush-member constituted by a base socket of undulated shape substantially sinusoidal indicated by reference numeral 21, to which there is fixed by a means whatsoever a plurality of rectilinear "ice bristles a generic one of those rectilinear bristles being indicated by 22.

In FIG. 2 is visible a member similar to that of FIG. 1 but carrying a plurality of bristles having undulated shape, generically indicated by 233.

The undulated shape of the socket determines by itself a supporting base of a certain extension which permits the brush to remain in working position without needing any special support.

Said sockets of undulated shape can be connected with one another in a simple and safe manner, by arranging on a surface said members side by side of one another as indicated in :FIG. 3 in such a manner that the vertices A of the bends of the socket 21 come to correspond to one another.

By providing in said points a tangency A the mutual union between said brush-shaped members in a preferably non-rigid manner, one obtains an effective connection between all the members of a given track or part thereof, without the need of having to fix the individual socket independently of the others. In the example given by FIG. 3 the said sockets 21 are joined with metal wire indicated by 24.

By this mutual fastening between the undulated socket members, every member in fact comes to remain imprisoned between the others and is sustained in the working position by virtue of its resting on surrounding members, which support is verified at the points of tangency, by virtue of the fact, as has been set forth above, that the very undulated shape of the socket already determines in itself a supporting base.

Moreover, the various members being joined together not rigidly, their assembly adapts itself to any irregularity of the ground on which it is laid.

With the brush-members having undulated shape it is possible to obtain tracks according to FIG. 4, wherein the orientation of said members varies according to the radius of the curves, as well as according to FIG. 5 wherein the orientation of the members is absolutely independent of the direction of movement of the skier. In fact, whatsoever the orientation of the ski with respect to that of the members may be, the surface of the ski is resting on a nearly constant number of bristles, thereby undergoing an always uniform friction.

Of course the invention is not limited to the embodiments herein before described and illustrated, but may be widely varied and modified in particular as to the shape and the dimensions of the bristles of the brushes, be they radially be they parallelly arranged, as to the number and density of the bristles, as to the material for making them, the shape, the size and the characteristics of the sockets and of the brush-members, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention.

I claim:

An artificial skiing surface comprising a network consisting of generally undulated strip members having angular bends, said strip members being arranged in mesh- -forming relationship with the strip members lying alongside each other and with the bends of one strip member contiguous with the bends of an adjoining strip member, said strip members having upper surfaces and a bunched plurality of adjoining upright resilient and laterally bendable projections upstanding from the upper surfaces for forming a non-continuous sliding surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,161,799 Castberg June 13, 1939 2,174,716 Bethell Oct. 3, 1939 2,251,927 Errnel .Aug. 12, 1941 2,254,482 Heller Sept. 2, 1941 2,924,455 Brunel Feb. 9, 1960 

